Food handling apparatus



June as, 1946. R D 2,402,520

FOOD HANDLING APPARATUS Filed April 12, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 F l G. I z 12 2 z w 20 I /7 27 22 INVENTOR.

GEORGE R. WOOD ATTORNEY June 18, 1946.

FOOD HANDLING APPARATUS Filed April 12, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lSa.

/7a. llw

F G. I

INVENTOR.

GEORGE R. WOOD Patented June 18, a 1946 FOOD HANDLING APPARATUS George R. Wood, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, as-

signor to Toledo Scale Company, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of New Jersey Application April 12, 1943, Serial No. 482,769

4 Claims. (Cl. 146-102) This invention relates'to food handling apparatus of the type in which a commodity to be sliced is reciprocated past the edge of a rotating circular knife, 9. slice .being evered therefrom during each stroke.

A slicing machine of the type described is equipped with a rotary knife, a portion of the edge of which is exposed and the remaining part of which is covered by means of a knife guard to prevent accidental injury to the operator. The diameter of the knife of a slicing machine is determined by a practical compromise between a knife large enough to permit large commodities such as slabs of bacon, meat loaves, loaves, of bread, etc., to be moved past its exposed edge, and a size small enough so that the slicing machine is not impracticably bulky.

Commodities to be sliced on such a machine are usualy carried in a trough-shaped commodity tray which is reciprocable past the exposed cutting edge of the knife. Such a commodity tray must be large enough adequatelyto support large pieces such as those enumerated above. If a portion of the commodity were allowed to overhang the rear edge of the tray, the slices severed therefrom would be uneven. The end of the commodity tray on the side toward the plane of the edge of the knife must be closely adjacent such plane so that commodities do not sag between the end of the tray and the plane of the edge of the knife, since such sagging would also cause the slices to be uneven. The necessary size of the commodity tray thus is a third factor which must be taken into consideration when the size of the circular knife is being determined, because the knife must be large enough to permit the tray to be moved past its cutting edge without any interference between the rear edge of the tray and the knife guarding mechanism.

It is an object of this invention to provide a knife guard which will completely guard the unused portions of a circular knife and yet permit a commodity tray of substantial size to be moved past the cutting edge of the knife without interference between the end of the commodity tray and the knife guard.

It is another object of this invention to provide a knife guard so constructed that a commodity tray of substantial size may be employed with a knife of a diameter less than the length of the commodity tray from front to rear.

. A further object of this invention is to pro vide a knife guard and commodity tray which cooperate to permita commodity tray having 2 greater overall dimensions than the knife with which it is employed to be moved entirely past the cutting edge of such knife and yet to permit the end of the commodity tray to be closely adjacent the plane of rotation of the knife.

More specific objects and advantages are apparent from the description, in which reference is had to the accompanying drawings illustrating preferred embodiments of the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. I is a fragmentary view, in elevation, of a slicing machine embodying the invention.

Fig. II is an enlarged fragmentary view, in elevation, parts being broken away, of a portion of a knife guard embodying the invention.

Fig. III is a fragmentary view, in elevation, taken from the right side of Fig. I, of the mechanism shown in Fig. II.

Fig. IV is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view, taken substantially on the line IV-IV of Fi II.

Fig. V is a view similar to Fig. I but of a modification of the invention.

Fig. VI is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view, taken substantially on the line VIVI of Fig. V.

Fig. VII is a fragmentary sectional view, taken substantially on the line VHVII of Fig. V.

These specific drawings and the specific description that follows merely discloseand illustrate the invention and are not intended to impose limitations upon the claims.

The slicing machine illustrated in Fig. I comprises a base l0 upon which is erected mechanism (not shown) for driving a rotary circular knife II. A gauge plate I2 is mountedon the base 10 with its face parallel to the plane of rotation of the knife II and is adjustable in a direction perpendicular to such plane. A commodity tray t3, which has a handle [4, is mounted on the base H] for reciprocation past an exposed portion l5 of the knife ll, so that commodities carried by the tray l3 and slid across the face of the gauge plate 12 are sliced by the knife II. A knife guard I 6 is also mounted on the base Ill and extends around substantially all ofthe knife II, with the exception of the exposed cut ting edge l5, which is closely adjacent a curved edge I! of the gauge plate l2.

As can be seen in Fig. III, the end ofthe commodity tray L3 is closely adjacent the plane of the edge of the knife ll so that commodities cannot project over the end of the tray 13 far enough to sag so as to be unevenly sliced. The knife ll (Fig. IV) has a dished-in face lfl and the knife guard I6 has a flat center portion I9 which lies within such face of the knife I I, so that the cutting section of the knife is in the form of an annulus. Thus after a commodity has been slid past the cutting edge I of the knife it is no longer in contact with a rotating surface, and consequently grease and fat are not smeared over the entire surface of the knife II. The center portion I9 of the knife guard, since it is stationary, does not become smeared withgrease as much as would an exposed center portion of the rotating knife I I.

Those portions of the knife guard I6 which cover the annular cutting edge of the knife II extend laterally from the plane of the cutting. edge of the knife II (as can be seen in Figs'IJI and IV), so that the knife canbe covered. Thus if the commodity tray I3 were of larger size than the knife II the rear of the end of the commodity tray ordinarily would strike the rear portion of the knife guard I6, and the commodity tray would not be movable entirely past the cutting edge I5 of the knife H for completely severing slices from a commoditysupported thereby.

This problem is solved, through the present in vention, by providing the knife guard 56 with a cutout portion 20 at its rear edge through which. the rear portion of the edge of the tray 3 adjacent the plane of rotation of the knife- I? passes. The commodity tray I3 thus may be of sufficient size to accommodate large pieces, and the knife I I may be" of a; diameter smaller than the overall size ofthe tray I3.

Cutting out a portion 20 of the'knfe guard I6- exposes a short segment 21 of the knife 'H whichalso must be guarded in order to prevent injury to the fingers of an operator; There is provided, therefore, an adjustable edgeguard 22 which is secured, by means of nuts 23' threaded on studs 24 welded to the rear of the edge guard 22, in two horizontal slots 25 cut in a turned-over flange 26' of the knife guard I6. The edge guard 22 has its inner edge 21 shaped to conform to" the edge of the knife H and lies closely adjacent thereto. The face of the edge guard 22- lies in the same plane as the face of the center portion I9'oi the knife guard l6, and the edge 2"! of the knife H. Since the knife II is circular, and since the inner edge 2I of the edge guard 22' concentric therewith, these two elements may he kept closely adjacent so that it is impossible for anyones fingers to be injured by bein inserted between the edge guard 22 and the knife II.

As the knife I I is sharpened from time totime its diameter decreases, but since the edge guard 22 is mounted in the slots 25 and, by loosening the nuts 23,. can be moved horizon-tally, its edge 2-! can be kept closely adjacent the edge of the knife II even though the diameter of the knife decreases.

The slicing machine illustrated in Fig. V' comprises a base Illa upon which is mounted a rotary circular knife Ho and an adjustable gauge plate I2a. A commodity tray I3a, which in this case is reversed in comparison with the commodity tray illustrated in Fig. I, is mounted upon the-base I 0' for reciprocation by means of a handle Ha past an exposed portion Ifia of the knife Ho. The knife IIa is guardedjby meanstof a knife guard IGa, and its exposed cutting edge I50; is protected by means of anedge fTa of the gauge plate In closely adjacentthereto'.

The commodity tray l3'a inthe embodiment of the invention shown in Fig; V' is tippedat a greater angle to the horizontal than the commod ity tray shown in Fig. I, and has its lowermost point at the rear (the right in Fig. V) rather than the front (the left in Fig. I). As has been explained with reference to the embodiment illustrated in Fig. I, the end of the commodity tray I3a is closely adjacent the plane of the cutting edge. I5a of the knife IIa, which has a central dished portion. I8a (Fig. VI) in which is located a central portion I o of the knife guard I6a. In order that the commodity tray I 3a may be moved entirely past the cutting edge I5a of the knife I la and into the position shown in Fig. V, the knife guard I6a is provided with a cutout section 20a so located. as to permit the end of the commodity tray I 3a to be. moved therethrough. However, a large piece, such as a slab of bacon, is usually relatively thin so that its major area is supported by the larger side of the commodity tray I3a and, since, in the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. V, VI and VII, such larger side is at the front, the shorter side of the commodity tray I3a need not' be located with its entire end closely adjacent the plane of the knife I Ia. Therefore, the cutout section 20a in the knife guard I 6a, which permits a portion 28a of the commodity tray I3a to pass, need not be large enough to permit the entire end of the commodity tray I3a to pass therethrough, and the commodity tray [3a may have in its end a cutaway section 29a that passes over the knife guard rec. Thus the cutout section 200? in the knife-guard I6a and the cutout section 29a in the commodity tray I 3a cooperate to permit the rear portion of the commodity tray I 3'a to extend over the rear portion of the knife guard I Go, and to permit the commodity tray I3a to be moved entirely past the cutting edge l5a of the knife lid for completely severing slices from the commodity supported thereon.

Because of the overlapping of the commodity tray and knife guard made possible by either embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, a knife guard having a diameter substantially smaller than the length of the commodity tray may be employed and, since-the commodity tray size issubstantially fixed by' the" size of commodities commonly sliced on such machines, the invention permitsmuchsmaller circular knives to be employed.

The embodiments of the invention that have been disclosed may be modified to meet various requirements.

Having described the invention, I claim:

1'. A guard for a rotary knife of a slicing machine, said guard comprising a housing completely enclosing said knife except for an a-rcuate opening exposing the cutting edge of the knife and a cutout through which theleading edge of a com modity'tray may pass, and an edge guard for said knife attached to and lying within said guard in the space exposed by said cutout.

2. A guard for a rotary knife of a slicing machine, said guard comprising a housing completely enclosing said: knife except. for an arcuate peripheral opening exposing; the cutting edge: of the knife and. a cutout on the side throughwhiclrthe,

leading edge of a commodity tray may pass anda fiat member mounted in said housing coplanar withand radially adjacent the knife inthe space exposed by saidcutout.

3. A guard for a rotary knife of a slicing'machine comprising, in combination, a housing com-l cutout providing clearance for for the leadin edge of a commodity carrier, said housing being formed to lie within the recess provided by the raised annular cutting edge of the knife to guide commodities past the knife, and an edge guard adjustably mounted in the housing to lie radially adjacent and coplanar with the knife in the space exposed by said cutout.

GEORGE R. WOOD. 

